The First Day of Her Womanhood
by Marihanna
Summary: I always wondered how she has taken care of this since this is the inevitable part of a womanhood. So here you go, this is my imagination of what could have happened on those very first days of her womanhood.


"Oh God…"

Oscar gasped quietly to herself.

Her hands were slightly shaking and she could not believe what she was seeing.

'This could be something else,' Oscar desperately tried to reason with herself. 'Maybe I accidently sat on spilled grape juice somewhere last night or maybe it is Andre's prank! Well… he often likes to poke fun at me, maybe he smeared strawberry jelly on me before we parted last night'

'No…' But she knew. The texture and where it was found… it was not grape juice or strawberry jelly or anything else that could possibly be found in her surroundings.

Unfortunately, as she first suspected and as difficult and scary as it was for her to accept, it was blood. From her own body and on her underwear. And it wasn't just a few drops of blood, which she could have possibly tried to ignore and made herself believe that it was harmless. Rather, it was a small pool of blood wetting her underwear and nightgown, even smearing a bit on her bed sheet. It seemed like so much blood to her since she never bled that much before.

Even if it wasn't for her bloody underwear, this was an unusual morning, Oscar thought. She went to bed early enough last night and slept well enough. But she didn't feel all fresh and energetic this morning. Instead, she could barely open her eyes. Her eyes were swollen, her arms and legs achy, and she was feeling sluggish overall. She also had dull and twitching pain in her lower abdomen. There were times when she woke up with bad muscle aches in the past due to the intense, prolonged fencing sessions a day before. But she never felt quite like this, not to mention bleed from her bottom.

"What is happening with me…"

She whispered to herself.

'Is there something wrong with me? Is God punishing me for something…? Am I… going to die? I am only thirteen…'

In panic, she imagined how everyone would be worried if they found out, or worse her father might be disappointed that she was so weak and diseased. And most of all… "If they find out… they won't let me serve the Royal Guard and protect the future Dauphine. She is supposed to arrive at France only in a few months now…" She clenched her teeth with her eyes fixed on her blood stained underwear and nightgown, 'My life… my life as I know it will be over.'

She knew what she had to do. 'I have to hide them!'

Once the decision was made, she quickly put it into actions. She swiftly changed into her daytime outfit and stuffed some hand towels inside her pants to have them absorb continuing flows of blood. She gathered all her blood stained clothes, put them in her small leather bag, and ran out of her room. She was going to bury them in the forest behind the Jarjayes mansion.

In the front yard, under the shining morning sun, Andre was bathing and feeding horses. He saw Oscar running out of the house with a small bag on her side.

"Good morning, Oscar!" he cheerfully greeted his friend with a big smile.

"Good morning…" Too preoccupied with her mission, she barely murmured as she quickly passed by Andre and hurriedly walked toward the stable.

"Oscar? Where are you going?"

Without answering his question or looking back, she soon disappeared into the stable.

'What is going on with her?'

After briefly patting and comforting the horses, Andre followed Oscar into the stable.

"Oscar? What are you doing?"

When he walked up to the stable gate and looked inside, Oscar already had her horse ready and was about to get on it.

"Wait, Oscar, where are you going so early in the morning?"

Andre walked toward Oscar but as if she was running away, she sped up her preparation, got right on her horse and abruptly exited the stable, causing Andre to back up a few steps. She quickly galloped away from the mansion, leaving behind Andre calling after her.

As she disappeared with the loud hooves sound, Andre was left baffled.

"What has possibly gotten into her this morning?" Andre blurted out in frustration.

Oscar tried not to look at or pay Andre any attention. If it were some other problems, it would have been her calling his name desperately as soon as she walked out the house, and they would have discussed and tried to find a solution together. But for this problem, she did not even want to give any hint that she was in trouble. Nobody, and that is including Andre, should know that she might be fatally ill, and besides it would just be too embarrassing to have him know that… she was bleeding from her bottom!

Clenching her teeth and holding back her tears, she galloped toward the forest to find a secret spot to bury her secret.


End file.
